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The true crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the police arrive, their faces and voices eloquent of caution or fear or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what occasionally seems like extraordinary diffidence – though perhaps this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in a city in Florida, a woman of colour whose four young kids reportedly bothered and antagonized her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that the suspect had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The movie builds its story with the officer recordings captured during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Portrayal of the Accused

The documentary does not really imply anything too complex about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an example of how “stand your ground” laws generate unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of gun ownership and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator famously claimed made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how little interest the police took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? How was the gun kept in her home? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was ultimately officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an remarkable scene in which Lorincz simply declines to rise, refuses to put her wrists out for the handcuffs, not hostilely, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose psychological state means that she just can’t do it. Did the gentle handling up until that point led her to think that this might actually work?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is revealed in the end titles. A deeply sobering portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.